Curtains
By luigi_pagano
- 980 reads
The cinema was in the basement
of an imposing Art Deco building;
it was the place for our weekly fix
of Westerns and animated cartoons.
We did not care that marble stairs
led to a first-floor, well-filled library;
we wanted Roy Rogers and Tom Mix.
Unsupervised, during the interval,
we played cowboys and Red Indians
galloping around the auditorium
castigated by the theatre's usherette.
It was a time when adult viewers
were still allowed to smoke cigarettes
even though it was a kids' matinée.
Over the years the audience dwindled,
it was decided the curtain should fall
and we children were left high and dry
not understanding the reason why
Mickey Mouse or The Three Caballeros
would no longer appear on the screen.
Our dream palace had lost its sheen.
When, later on, it became a bingo hall,
whereas the children were left in the lurch
it provided entertainment to the grannies
who would flock to the place to play lotto
in the evening, after attending church.
The novelty lasted only a few months
because the foundations were derelict.
It was then the council issued the edict
that the edifice had to be safely restored
or else be forever consigned to oblivion.
The owner of the cinema was the dweller
of an apartment on the second floor.
Without hesitating expressed the opinion
that it was better to use it as a wine cellar.
© Luigi Pagano 2021
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Comments
I guess most cinemas followed
I guess most cinemas followed the same pattern. picture, then bingo, then oblivion.
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Oh! How those Saturday
Oh! How those Saturday mornings of going to the pictures to watch our favourite westerns comes flooding back Luigi. When it was your birthday it would be fun to get up in front of the other children, and everyone would sing happy birthday.
Sadly our 1950s and 1960s cinema when I was a child. is now luxury flats, but then memories are so treasured, I'm just glad I was born at the right time.
A nostalgic poem that invoked those memories.
Jenny. xx
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Thank you so much for
Thank you so much for reviving what is now a fond memory for me. I used to go to Saturday Morning Cinema. I had a shilling and it was 6d for the stalls where the 'more lively' boys went. I paid the 9d to go up into the Circle for a bit of peace. I still had 3d for an ice lolly. They knocked down the Odeon in Chelmsford where I grew up. It as replaced long after I had grown up by a new breed of 'multiplex cinema.
Thank you.
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It really saddens me to see
It really saddens me to see the decline and fall of buildings like the cinema from your childhood, often followed by demolition to make way for an inner ring road or a shopping centre. It's not just cinemas though. In my time in my city of Leeds I've seen the obliteration of charming old pubs, shopping arcades, bus stations, ornately tiled public toilets and an assortment of other old buildings not old enough to be classed as historic but not new enough to be acceptable to the modern face of the city.
Your words of nostalgia have stirred feelings of regret that such worthwhile architecture and events have become things of the past and impossible to recreate. You've made me want to write something along these lines myself.
Despite my moaning and groaning I really enjoyed reading your poem.
Thank you.
Turlough
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